UFC 254 PPV Buys Reportedly Revealed

The pay-per-view numbers for UFC 254 are in.

UFC 254 took place on October 24. It was headlined by a lightweight title unification bout between UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and interim titleholder Justin Gaethje. Nurmagomedov won the fight via second-round submission. After the bout, “The Eagle” announced his retirement from pro MMA competition.

UFC President Dana White claimed that Nurmagomedov vs. Gaethje was trending to be the biggest fight the promotion has ever had. White did note that the afternoon time slot would make it tough to top the PPV buy record set by UFC 229 (2.4 million), but he did say UFC 254 was trending higher than UFC 229.

As it turns out, UFC 254 didn’t do the numbers that White seemed to be expecting. The Sports Business-Journal is reporting that UFC 254 drew 500,000 PPV buys in the United States. The event scooped up an additional 175,000 buys internationally. Many experts agree that the number is still impressive given the fact that it aired live at 2 p.m. ET.

Taking a look at UFC PPV events in 2020, UFC 251, headlined by Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal, sits at the top with 1.3 million buys. UFC 246, headlined by Conor McGregor vs. Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone takes second place with 1 million buys. Israel Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker main evented UFC 253, which drew 700,000 buys. UFC 249, which featured Justin Gaethje vs. Tony Ferguson, ties UFC 253 with 700,000 buys.